Puddles and Shadows

Mon Oct 26, 2015 10:07 am

Takeshi's steps brought him to a very familiar building - the Eagle Eye, as most people called it.

To him and a few others, it was home.

His steps brought him up to the door, and he gently opened it - he knew it was late out, as he nodded towards the security guard - and waited for the elevator. A check of his watch told him it was around eleven thirty. Pretty late, generally he got here like an hour earlier. Sighing again, as he shifted the two swords he had, he pondered his encounter. Honestly, Takeshi just wanted to go to bed and sleep. But he had a rope to reattach to his lighting set up, and he also had to cook himself something to eat. By the grumbling of his stomach, he could probably eat a small cow or something.

Well, metaphorically, he didn't have that many stomach expansion packs thank you.

The man ended up on his floor, letting out a long sigh. Slowly, he made his way to his apartment, and finagled with his keys. ''I can never remember, goddammit'' he muttered to himself. Finally, the right key ended up in the door, and with a small twist, he unlocked it. Leaving the door open, he was wrangling the blades in his narrow doorway. His apartment was, well almost a loft but not quite. The doorway and entry was narrow, but the rest of the place bloomed out behind them. In the entry, there was one closet and a door leading to the bathroom. The kitchen, living room, and even his bedroom were mostly open. It costed a relatively pretty penny sure - that's why he had three jobs - but it give him all the space he needed. And since he lived alone... barriers were a hindrance.

Not like he had guests over anyways, as he finally got the blades on his living room table.

Sighing, he didn't notice that he wasn't alone right now...

Mon Oct 26, 2015 11:24 am

Puddles and Shadows 2fa99b41_zpssvuwxdst

Today was the day.

She was gonna do it.

She had been waiting impatiently inside her apartment for the return of the guy who lived next door to her. He was supposed to have been home roughly an hour ago, so she was getting quite a bit upset. When she heard the clicking of the door in the room beside her, she immediately got out of bed.
Walking over, fully clothed in her everyday attire, she cocked back her foot as far as it would go.

Kicking the door as hard as she could at the bottom, it quickly went flying off the hinges, flipping the top backwards to her as she held it above her head. Throwing it at the man who stood almost with no type of guard, she stood tapping her foot.

"Well? Aren't you going to greet me?" She said, ignoring the fact that they had thus far never met. While he was still no doubt reacting to her intrusion, she sat comfortably on his couch, as though it were her own. Then, looking around, she would quickly familiarize herself with the place. "Nice place ya got here, I mean this couch is really comfy." She would say, making herself at home. Then, if he made any attempt to step towards her or otherwise get within 5-10 feet of her, she would pull out her gold plated pistol and point it at the him. Then, pointing it at the wall to her apartment, she fired it off, leaving a pizza sized hole in the wall.

"Ah ah ah~ If you take even one more step towards me, that'll happen to you." Smiling warmly, as one would to a friend, she would then look around the room once more, managing to keep her gun trained on him regardless of where he moved. " Oh wow, would you look at all the damages.. How will you ever pay for them? I mean, a missing door and a massive wall crater? Someone might think you're a stalker~ Making holes into girl's rooms like that. Look, that's my bedroom right there!" She'd start, crossing her legs as she smirked at him.

"You'll need some way to pay for that, right? Or would you prefer people think you're spying on teenage girls?" She knew the answer, so she leaned forward, placing the leg she had crossed over the other onto the floor in front of her. "Well, I just so happen to have just enough money to pay for that. And your rent in this dump for a lifetime..." She'd say boldly, looking him directly in the goggles. "So here's the deal, fuck boy. Way I see it, you have three options. You let me live here, and I'll split the rent with you. Say... 99/1? I'll also pay for your door and the hole. Sound fair? I mean, or you can live with working your ass off over the next few years struggling to make up enough money to pay for it yourself... not to mention you'll be labeled as a sexual predator once I 'accidentally' find that hole in my room." She would say, half chuckling.

"Or, I mean, you could, y'know, die." She'd say, waving the gun in his direction. Smiling again, with a strong hint of mischief on her face. She would lower the gun before he even had a chance to respond. "Doesn't look to me like you're ready to die yet. So it looks like I'll be living here now. Better get used to it... roommate~" She said, smiling at him.

I think I did pretty well.

"Now then, nice to meet ya, roomie! Name's Kurikaeshi Toki-chan!" She'd say, adding emphasis on the chan. He'd better not forget it.

Mon Oct 26, 2015 4:06 pm

All he wanted, was one relaxing evening.

Though that changed as a door flew past his face, and imbeded itself just a few inches from his tv. For a moment, Takeshi just stared at it, even as the prescence that he had ignored - that girl was always watching him creepily, he was sure she was a stalker - decided to just... install itself into his room. His life. And sat on his couch. When he moved closer to fix some of the pillows that had fallen to the ground, she apperantly got not only a gun, but shot it through the bloody wall. And Takeshi only looked at her with a blank face. Before he pulled out his phone, and started dialing.

''Yes emergency services? This is Kimura Takeshi, and I require immediate assistance. There's a girl with a gun trying to make holes in my wall and rip out my door. Yeah, she looks underaged, and I just got home, as per the records when I called you guys like, an hour ago about a hollow. Mhm, just send the Inspector. Thank you.'' he said, before he hung up. ''Honestly, you'd figure you'dve thought about this better kid. This isn't a good night for me, so how about, before the police show up, you head on home and pretend like you're surprised?'' he said. Honestly, did she think he'd just stand there and accept that kind of sloppy blackmail? He wasn't stupid, or dumb - he was known to people in the police sector, it wasn't going to do anything if she called him a pedophile or what not. After all, he had so many solid alibis, and there was the fact that he had only shown up an hour ago - and forensics were good enough to find how the hole was done.

Seriously, the male just pulled a chair and sat down, fully expecting everything to be done and done.

He just had no mood for this today, as the male slowly sunk his head down onto the desk, and waited for everything to solve itself.

Mon Oct 26, 2015 6:33 pm

Artist: Evoland II OST - Song: Track 21 (Cursed) - Word Count: 447

"How dare you?! And to think I was being nice to you." Toki said, half pouting. She kinda had expected him to do this, but she also expected him to just sit down and give up. She saw the sitting down, but she didn't see the giving up.

Of course, she had plans already for what she would say when the police arrived, but for now, she kinda was in a slump. He called the police on her! But at least now she knew his name.

Sitting up on the couch, she put the door back on it's hinges, carefully screwing each screw into place. She had quite a bit of experience with door repair, surprisingly. She'd had a bit of anger issues when she was younger. Once the door was restored to it's original position, she walked over and sat down beside Takeshi.

"You really don't wanna make this easy on me..." She half murmured, looking off to the side as she did. She would wait for the inspector to arrive before holding her hands out.

Tears welling in her eyes, she told the truth. "I'm so sorry officer, I didn't mean anyone any harm.. I just... I've never been able to make friends... You can imagine why... I won't do anything like this again officer. If you please, you can take me in, but I actually have the money to pay for the hole right here." She said, flashing thousands upon thousands of yen out in the general eye.

Of course, it was only half of the truth. She made friends quite easily, because of her bubbly personality. This was perhaps the only instance where she couldn't see any other way but this in order to get close to him. Taking the firearm out of her boot, and holding it by the barrel, she held it out for the inspector to take. Of course, if her sob story worked like she assumed it would, he wouldn't take her only form of self defense from her.

Then, looking back at Takeshi with a look that said Say a word and I'll kill you, she quickly turned back to the inspector. "Tell you what Inspector, I'll pay for the hole, and this man's rent for the next few months. Does that sound fair? I couldn't live with myself if he had to struggle with all this. If you're not going to arrest me, you can take the gun. I can see I'm too dangerous with it." She said, adding subtle emphasis to the word dangerous so that Takeshi knew he would be her next target if he said anything, but subtly enough that the officer might take it as a joke.

Thu Oct 29, 2015 5:41 pm

The male let out a soft groan at the female.

If that was being nice... then damn she needed to sort out her priorities. He just wasn't in the mood for any of this bullshit, like he normally would have tolerated. Actually, even normally he'dve just told her he'd call the cops if she didn't mosey on out and leave him alone. But it seemed like it wasn't his day today, as the girl was doing something. Was she actually fixing the door? Takeshi didn't know what she was doing, he was just taking the moment to rest his head from this pounding headache he was receiving right now. Slowly, he heard the knock on the door, and Takeshi rose. ''Come on in.'' he said, rubbing his temples.

The inspector walked in - not too old, not too young - but distinguished, he rose an eyebrow at the male. Takeshi just gave him a grimace, because this sort of thing was all too common. Of course, before either men spoke, the girl seemed to surge forward with her own words. The male looked over at Takeshi, who just shrugged and then sighed. ''Still, that doesn't mean you do this kind of thing miss. You might have injured someone - and that's bad.'' the male said, his voice not patronizing, but serious still. And when the money flashed the male's face hardened. ''Miss, I do suggest you put that away, hooligans would take advantage of it. Simply fix the hole, and apologize to Mister Kimura.'' he said.

He wasn't dumb either, as he caught the look she gave Takeshi. The brown haired male simply rose his hands as if to say he wasn't dealing with this. The police man just sighed, of course it was always like this with him. He inspected the weapon, and then handed it back to the girl, before he gave out another loud sigh. ''And Miss, next time do not try to lie, or bribe, an officer of the law. Just be careful, and don't bother Mister Kimura too much - he already has enough on his plate without you adding to it.'' he said, walking out the door with a hand gesture. A few moments after he left, Takeshi just sighed again, and shook his head.

''Will you at least behave? I had a demon baby in my head today, so it hurts and I don't want to handle some kid. So long as you stay respectable, I'm not gonna be mad - you know, you could have just asked. Shesh.'' he said, before pulling himself together, and taking both swords, and throwing them onto his bed. ''You hungry?'' he threw over his shoulder. It was like he wasn't even bothered by her antics, but mostly just wanted her to calm down. Honestly, he might regret it in the morning, but right now, he just wanted food, and to sit down and watch a movie, and then go to goddamn sleep, because this headache was killing him, and he had to work tomorrow morning.

Hopefully, she wouldn't get that clue and not walk all over his patience, right?

Fri Oct 30, 2015 6:15 pm

Artist: FFXIV HEAVENSWARD OST - Song: Heroes (Losstarot Chiptune Remix) - Word Count: 415

To be honest, Toki just blushed. Though her plan didn't work out the way she intended it to, not in the slightest, she still managed to achieve her goal, and that was something.

Her face softened and her general demeanor shifted. She was relieved. Putting the gun back into her boot, she turned and sat quietly at the table, almost seeming to be an entirely different person altogether. She was quiet, and the dopey smile on her face spoke more than words could. It was somewhat out of embarrassment, and somewhat out of happiness. Although she herself hated that she was making such a stupid face at such a time, others might think it to be cute.

Then, she snapped out of it. "Behave? I'm obviously the very definition of well behaved! You clearly haven't seen enough of me yet to judge!" But despite her boisterous outburst, she remained seated. He really looked tired, given the slump he was in. And besides... Demon Baby? What the hell kinda stuff was this guy into? According to the history books, demons were actual real creatures, that were apparently common place in society, but given the fact that she could only see blurs and shit instead of actual detailed spirits, she couldn't tell a demon from Rukia Kuchiki. Literally.

Toki's stomach growled, almost in answer to Kimura-san's question. Toki did quite enjoy a homecooked meal. In fact, it was probably the only thing that would keep her calm under this situation. The rosy redness faded from her cheeks as she clutched her stomach, tears welling in the sides of her eyes. "Well... if you're offering..." She whispered weakly, the full brunt of the hunger finally hitting her. She hadn't had breakfast all morning, because she'd spent most of it just waiting for him to get home. A meal was probably something she should have accounted for in her master plan!

That's right, she'd actually planned to be caught by the police, and she had the utmost faith she would get away with everything. And look! She did! Her plans worked once again! Now the peasant was even offering to make her dinner! Look at him squirm to please me! Toki thought, a glint of determination returning to her eyes. At this rate, she'd be.. wait what was her goal again?

Oh yeah, she'd be living with Mr. Kutie-pants in no time! It was a shame other people couldn't be as cunning and smart as she was. It was hard being this crafty.

Sat Oct 31, 2015 12:34 pm

Well something either of them said seemed to work.

The girl deflated, and immediately it helped his headache. Mainly because he didn't think he had to be on guard for another attack or something. And then she snapped again, but he figured she'd stay behaved - if anything out of consideration. Because despite her being a kid - he had an eye to judge age, well a squint if you wanna be precise - she seemed to have a semi-reasonable head on her shoulders. And therefore, she'd probably realize sometime soon - at least, to his expectations, but his expectations were always shot in the foot - that he wasn't going to take bullshit, and that being a communicative, reasonable human being was more likely to work out.

''Well, I shouldn't have to.'' he replied, if not a bit snippy.

But she did accept his offer of a meal, so the male smiled. With practiced hands, he easily got out the ingredients. From looking at her in his peripherals, she was probably hungry. Just like him. Takeshi often skipped his meals during work, and only ate when he got home. And that was more often then he'd like to admit. His attention turned to the stove and he was easily making a fried rice - but the type that most people didn't see. And then it was finally in the cauldron, he sat down at the table himself. ''Just about ten more minutes.'' he said. And then this is where he stopped, waiting.

His gaze slid to her, waiting for her to talk.

He was sure she could feel the expectant waves he was giving off - he wasn't dumb, not by any means - and that she would eventually give in. Takeshi wanted information, and he would get it come hell or high water. If anything, maybe he could make this highschool girl admit why she decided that being aggressive like that was the best way. He wasn't ready for someone else to live with him, not yet - there was still things he had to deal with on his end. But maybe, if he turned into a better neighbor, she wouldn't act out quite as much? It was a hope that he could see budding, perhaps.

Then again, all that kind of shit was troublesome in the first place, so he'd have to wait and see the results.

Sat Oct 31, 2015 2:14 pm

Artist: FFXIV HEAVENSWARD OST - Song: Heroes (Losstarot Chiptune Remix - Toki's Theme) - Word Count: 332

Toki, due to the sheer overwhelming suction of hunger, completely zoned out, resulting in her staring blankly back at Takeshi for about a minute, the both of them not saying anything. Whatever he was cooking smelled good.

Blinking rapidly, she brought herself back to earth. "Uh.. were you saying something?" She said dryly, still clutching her stomach. It was unfortunate that she skipped school all day just for this to happen. She was running out of things to say. Well, mainly because all her massive amounts of energy just dropped like a rock due to her accursed high metabolism. Others wished they had it, but Toki, being hungry all the time, saw it as more a curse than a blessing. Although, she did appreciate that she got to try so many different foods because of it.

Toki was one of those ironic fatasses. If her metabolism was any lower than it already was, she'd probably be twice her size with the amount of food she ate.

Still, observing the man with his eyes apparently closed filled her with a sense of peace, rather than dread. Despite that her life had been fairly normal up until now, she felt that, at least with this stranger, she could begin cracking the shell that held her confidence captive. He honestly looked not too much older than her, and though she wouldn't admit it, she was still wholesomely embarrassed about the entire ordeal earlier.

It was just that, she'd put an overwhelming amount of thought into it, but everything came crashing down when he called the police. Didn't he know how to take a joke? Yeesh.

She sat twiddling her thumbs, and glancing up at the man every so often. "So, what do you do here, Kimura-chan?" She said, again emphasizing the chan to piss him off. funniest thing about it was, by now she already knew she wouldn't elicit any response from him, she simply did it... well... just to do it.

Hopefully the food would be ready soon.

Thu Nov 05, 2015 4:29 pm

Well whatever she was, she was hungry.

Takeshi chuckled slightly, at the fact she was so mesmerized by the smell that she wasn't paying attention. That was kind of cute. His eyes slid closed as he waited, just relaxing in the sound of the food cooking and the tv's faint buzz. These things were familiar. The breath of another wasn't all that much. He figured she skipped school all day - he had seen her leave in uniform, done a little wave to her in the hallways because that's how he was, polite - because she had been instantly on him the second he arrived. That, and how she clutched herself before he shut his eyes, made him think she didn't eat either. It was kind of sad in a way.

Well, he wasn't going to bully her about yet at least.

Eventually though, the silence was too much for the girl. She spoke to him, adding a chan to his name. Well then, that was probably awkward. ''Well, Kurikaeshi-kun, you might want to elaborate on that. What do I do for work? What am I doing in this apartment? In this city?'' he said. Sure it might have been a little bit asshattish, but he was sure she'd just either fluster, or become boistrious again. Give her something to be passionate about, because a pretty girl like her should be having fun in highschool with a boyfriend and shit. Not bothering an older guy like him.

Actually, was she yandere?

Now that he thought about it, she probably stalked his room. She had come in and tried to subdue him with sheer bravado and fear of death. Had he been normal - keyword, normal for these parts - he might have shat his pants and listened. Because he was weaker then her, and this entire society was an entire dick show of who's stronger then whom. But since he didn't fit that society - his normal was the normal before the war he thinks, as few people try to live that way anymore, and he does - he didn't react the same. He had more of a shell for things. Well that and a life of misfortune or something retarded like that.

Seriously, what deity did he piss off for this kind of treatment?

The male's head was still pounding, and there was a faint sound at the edge of it. He cleared his mind, and took a breath as his internal clock finally counted down the time. With a push upwards, he was moving towards the pot. With a few more stirs, he smiled and turn down the heat to nothing, pulling it off the oven. Slipping it on a heating plate, he just let it cool off a bit, before bringing out forks and plates. Then he took out the table cloth, and slowly shifted his table around, setting it nice and neatly. Then he brought the forks and plate, and then the hot plate as well. And finally, he took out something from the fridge, and put it into the microwave too.

''You can start serving yourself with the scoop. Just leave some for me, and leave some room, there's side plates with that.'' he said. Of course, what she would begin to scoop out, if she listened, was a fried rice with chicken in it. Of course, he had other side plates to go with it, but for now that would do as he got them ready, humming a tune under his breath as he cooked. In a way, cooking for him was relaxing, so the headache was receding, bit by bit. And surely, she would be too busy to bother people if she was eating right? Oh, he could answer her newly specified questions as he cooked too.

After all, Takeshi wasn't that kind.

Sat Nov 07, 2015 4:03 pm

Artist: FFXIV OST - Song: An Encounter of FATE (FATE Encounter Acoustic ver.) - Word Count: 641

Kurikaeshi-kun...

With that she snapped, firing off her 50 caliber pistol at the wall behind him. "Toki-chan." Then, realizing what she'd done in a hunger-induced rage, she promptly slid enough repair money for two holes across the table. "S-sorry, force of habit. I'll pay for both of them, s-so don't worry or call the police or anything.." She would say, slightly scared of what would happen if that inspector guy had to come back here.

With that, she would carefully scoop the rice onto her plate, the smell of fresh food reviving her energy as she looked down at the plate with a glow in her eyes. The food looked so good! Professional even. Was this guy a cook or somethin'? Toki couldn't help but let a short goofy smile slip before plunging her fork into the rice before her. "Heeheeheee" was the closest rendition she could identify for the sound she made before placing a forkful of the food onto her tongue.

Bear in mind, Toki had been rich all her life, and had thus tasted all manners of gourmet food before, but this... This was on an entirely different level. The flavors combined so well into one, and the softness of the chicken went well with the slight resistance of the rice... simply put, everything about the meal was perfect. Toki's eyes began to water, not from the fear she had been fighting that the man might call the inspector back, but from the sheer beauty of the moment. Her tongue was almost tingling with delight. This wasn't a moment where one simply ate their food swiftly like a madman... This was one where savoring every delectable bite became a necessity! And it was this she did.

Unable to even speak, tears running down her face as she slowly ate her way through the rice on her plate, she had finally finished, smiling an even goofier smile and looking down at her empty plate before her. She would reach to get more, then, realizing that she both had to leave some for Takeshi as he said, and also didn't want to ruin the moment, she placed the scoop back into the container.

"Take-chan..." She said, disregarding that it may be seen as disrespectful to jump to calling him by his first name, let alone adding chan to the end as well. "Will you cook for me again, like this?" Her tone was completely gentle, unlike the hoarse brashness she had held before. It would be clear to anyone that that meal touched her heart.

Clearing her throat, she remembered that he was asking a question before she shot at him. "Oh, and uh, all of the above I guess! Tell me more about yourself!" She said enthusiastically, then, placing her hands square in front of her, she abruptly rose from the table. She would then proceed to invade Takeshi's personal space, to the point that she was mere inches away from his face. "But start with how you learned to cook like... like... like that." She gestured toward the empty plate on the table, only now wiping the cold tears from her face with the edges of her sleeves.

Toki hadn't had anything quite like it in her entire life. She, until this point, didn't believe it was possible for food to move one to such emotion. She felt kind of like a baby eating a meal they don't like, crying all over the place like she was... but she couldn't help it! The tears just came out! But that was no longer a problem anymore, she thought as she sat back at the table across from where Takeshi had been sitting.

"If you like, I can tell you what I'm doing here as well! Then we'll be like partners, roommate!" She said with almost childlike glee, her thought process clearly being skewed by some measure.

Puddles and Shadows

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